Morley ABY Switch

Bill Wenzloff from Morley here again. If you are having any problems with Ground Loop Hum, it is because of mismatched ground potentials on your amplifiers. There are a few easy ways to diagnose the problem and easy ways to fix the problem. If anyone is interested, give me a call Toll Free at 800-284-5172 ext 12. Being educated beats simply giving up.

Also, if you have any problem with gear, always try to get help from the company that makes the product. In most cases, you'll be glad you did.

Keep the reviews coming (good and bad)! We read them all and take your opinions very seriously.

C'mon,

Not to hate on Morley, but this thing is horrible. Not only do i own one but I actually own two. Same outcome on both. Massive hum, and huge "pops" when i switch. I bought the second one to give Morley the benefit of the doubt. I play through a Peavey Classic 30 and 5150. I can actually touch the pedal(grounding it) and it stops. Some may say it's my equipment but my amps have normal hum without the Morley being used, and i have used it with several different rigs and guitars and again it's the same outcome. I used my friends switch and 'POOF' the hum was gone.

It has never failed on me, I will give it that. But I am getting a Switch from StarTouch to replace it. I can't handle the problems any more. I can only give a 5 due to its well-known problems.

I have never dealt with customer care but after seeing them post on here I feel they are not very customer oriented. Instead of addressing the actual problems (maybe a recall) They instead make suggestions about your rig.

Overall, I would say get something else. So far i have really spent around $120.00 dollars buying two of them, thinking that maybe I had damaged the first one. I can't speak for everyone but seriously i bought two and they did the same thing. Don't waste your money on this product, you will not be happy.

*I have to say this* To those who are getting pissed' and calling others "whiney" get the F@&K on somewhere. This is a place for opinions and reviews. Don't be shitty because someones opinion doesn't agree with yours. HC has helped me make decisions on equipment because of honest people who come here and say their piece, good or bad.

easy to use

the input should not be between the two outputs however....just makes my cords a messier situation

I don't notice any signal loss or bleed over.

What I do notice is a loud "pop" sound from my amps when switching either channel on or off. I can't tolerate it during living performance but at home.....who cares?

If it were lost I would look for something else.....

I've been playing since 1969. I play in our church now every Sunday night.

I don't own this pedal, and have no intention of EVER coming near one of 'em.

I am posting this as a DIRECT challenge to Mr. Bill Wenzloff's recommendation of converting the 3 prong SAFETY plug of an amplifier to a 2-prong non-earthed plug.

See, I know that the safety ground prong (the third one) of an electrical plug is tied directly to the amp's chassis. That means that in the event of a major short to the chassis, the current will hopefully flow straight to the earth, and save everything plugged into the amp (read: YOU and your instrument)

Now, suppose for a second that you defeated that third prong with an adaptor as Mr. Wenzloff has suggested. You have the amp plugged into the switchbox, and are currently running with only that amp enabled. If a catastrophic short happens within that amp's circuits, guess where 4 or 5 HUNDRED DC volts are heading? Yup, right for ya, buddy! And don't think for one second that your house/venue's circuit breaker will save you, either. The filter capacitors on an amp hold enough juice in 'em to STILL give you a very rude jolt at the VERY least, if you're VERY lucky.

If you happen to be running both amps at once, there's a CHANCE that the voltage would go to the second amp, and from there to earth, in which case, you'd likely wreck an amp, but hopefully live.

At any rate, I want to know how you can explain this, "Sir". Because I can't see why in the world you'd be putting your customers lives in jeopardy for the sake of a shoddy product.

To everyone reading this: Think long and hard about what I just finished writing here...

Good day.

I looked at a schematic for this pedal. I've never actually tried one but... On each "output",(for the older units, anyway) there is a 100k resister to ground. I know that guitarists trying to push their preamps hard will be dissatisfied with any signal loss. Cutting that resister out of the circuit might help and is possibly causing some signal bleed under some circumstances (I doubt it). I suspect that some complaints about the signal loss are coming from people who put a passive guitar straight into the aby. 100k resister loss plus signal splitting loss. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd be interested in seeing an online response from Morley.

I've talked to the people at Morley about a different issue and they were very patient and helpful.

self-explanatory :)

no extra noise or signal degradation! I use it on my pedal board to bypass my Morley Power Wah Boost (doesn't have true bypass). To do this I run from my effects loop send to the input on my ernie ball volume pedal, to my Electro Harmonix big muff pi (it has true bypass), to my Boss Chorus, to the input on the Morley ABY. Then one output goes into the input of my Morley PWB and the other goes directly to the amp's effects loop return. I use a split instrument cable to go back to the amp... I have the cable connected between the output of my PWB and the second output of my Morley ABY switch. When I press the "A or B" button on the ABY switch, it truly bypasses my PWB... that way I don't have to push both buttons on the PWB and rock the treadle forward when not in use. My drummer was impressed with my quick thinking, but I am mechanically inclined.

backups are cool to have, but I don't have one and never needed one yet!

as stated in my review for the PWB (power wah boost pedal) I've had wonderful service and great interaction with Morley

see my Power Wah Boost review,... I'm too lazy to keep typing it!

Easy to use. It's an A/B/Y pedal.

This is where I will part the water between good and bad pedals. This one POPS when stepped on for channel switching, and Bleeds the signal from one amp to the other. I use a 100 watt Fender Quad, and a 100 watt Marshall JMP. I don't want to hear any drain in my signal or bleed through from one amp to the other and this pedal fails the test. My smaller amps are powerful too (Fender Super Champ and Princeton Reverb II) and the results are the same. If you want a excellent pedal for this function, that won't bleed through, and is absolutely silent, buy an USA made Startouch! Startouch is the only switch boxes I will ever use again (because their built to last and work as they should)

Doesn't matter. I sold it. This pedal sucks.

Again, this doesn't matter because the product sucks.

This pedal will only piss you off. Buy an American made Startouch, and be happy.

So simple to connect and use you would have to brain dead not to figure it out.

I can't tell any difference in the sound with the box in or out of the circuit.There is no level drop or HF loss.The users who are critical of this product on this point probably have problems that lie elsewhere in their set ups.Also hum loops will always be a problem on a simple switcher like this,just the same as using two amps with a stereo output processor can sometimes be troublesome.There are solutions to the problem that can reduce/stop the hum but I don't consider the prescence of any earth loop hum to be a fault of the Morley,it is merely a consequence and has to be seen and dealt with as such.There are A/B boxes that will provide isolation to the two amps earth wise but they are considerably more expensive to buy and at its price the Morley is fine.

Seems very well built and I don't expect any problems.Other Morley gear that I have owned even back to the big chrome pedals of the 70s has always been very good.

Never had to deal with them

Overall a simple pedal,well made,not expensive and does the job.Consequential noise problems should not be seen as an inherant fault of the pedal itself if they occur but rather as a known condition that has to be addressed whenever two mains powered amps are driven from a single source signal or unit.

Two buttons. If you can't operate this thing you've got some real problems.

I used it to run two amps at once mainly, a Marshall JCM 800 and a Fender Bassman. This pedal kills some of the signal going into the amps and causes humming. Flat out, this pedal sucks!!! After trying to use this pedal and not being happy with the end results I finally went out and bought a Lehle A/B/Y pedal, HUGE improvement. Now I get a strong signal going to each amp and there is absolutely no hum whatsoever. I would NOT recommend the Morley switcher to even my worst enemy. How can a product like this even leave their factory?? Someone there actually thought this pedal was a good idea??

Seems pretty tough.

Never dealt with them and never intend to.

Overall this thing is horrible. Creates a loop hum and kills the signal going into the amps. Avoid this pedal at all costs!! If you need an A/B/Y man up and spend the money and get a Lehle, Framptone or something similar. You get what you pay for!

My cat, Alby, uses her paw to switch amps for me. If you're having a problem, best stick with acoustic guitar for now, champ.

Dear Dufus,

Open it up and look inside the little box. The switches are HARD WIRED. The box cannot be "sucking" any tone. Check out below for dealing with hum issues. It would be very difficult to get a cleaner signal path. If you want the least junk in your signal path, you've got it with this box.

Could be thrown against a wall without a problem.

Haven't needed it. But this box is MADE IN U.S.A.! Stop buying Chinese gear! It's made by miserable slaves ruled by a group dictatorship. Your idiot congress won't do anything about it, but you can - don't buy Chinese!

Basic switch, does what I need and no more. It will last forever. It's made in America - thank you Morley!